French investment bank BPIFrance to make €30 million in loans available to local creative industries

By

Lucile Deprez

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Feb 2, 2017

The creative industry loan (for companies in the luxury, fashion, visual and decorative arts, cuisine and live entertainment industries) will be available from April and is designed to fund 200 enterprises via a renewable funding allocation of €30 million.

 
According to the General Manager of BPIFrance, Nicolas Dufourcq, the loans will be reserved to "the creative industries in the broad sense (...) a sector which is strategic for [France] since it generates high added value." According to the investment bank's figures, creative industries in France group together 500,000 companies with 1.7 million employees, and are worth €104 billion in added value, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP.

The new loans are designed to improve the sector's access to financial resources, "allowing France to maintain its unique position in this specific segment," said Isabelle Ginestet-Naudin, in charge of the creative industry department.

The loans are available to SMEs that have been at least three years in business.They are unsecured, with no guarantee from the company or its director, and are repayable in 7 years, with a two-year grace period on capital repayment. Loan value is between €50,000 and €400,000 per company, and the loan will be co-financed through a bank, the company's own equity or via crowdfunding.  

The initiative is EU-backed, through the European Investment Fund, whose CEO Pier Luigi Gilibert underlined the importance of the creative industries in France and Europe: "It is a sector which generates jobs, growth and innovation across Europe, with 7 million employees and 4.5% of total GDP."

BPIFrance, the French government's investment bank created to back French businesses, was founded five years ago and in 2015 supported 8,000 companies with funding worth €1.3 billion. Several fashion labels have benefited from BPIFrance's backing, among them Lemaire, Le Gramme, Roseanna and Bonne Gueule.